Sri Lankan cricketers have reportedly been forced to take a pay cut because of the poor financial condition of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board. There appears to be no swift end in sight for the most-recent contract stand-off between SLC and the island’s players.

The Sri Lankan cricketers had requested a 12 per cent stake from the International Cricket Council (ICC) event payments to be included in their contracts, in response to SLC’s offer to pay them a participation fee and other performance-based payments for ICC events.

According to Islandcricket.lk, the financially-struggling SLC had removed the clause of paying 25 per cent to cricketers from payments made by the ICC for the team’s participation in ICC tournaments. An official said that the board does not appear to want to give in to the players’ demands.

The official also said that the board is even contemplating sending a second-string side for the ICC World T20 2014 if the players do not sign their contracts before they depart for the tournament in Bangladesh.

Although the cricketers have always shown willingness to compromise and a full-strength side is expected to feature. Discussions are currently ongoing between the two parties to resolve the dispute, the report added.

First Published on March 15, 2014, 7:24 pmLast updated on March 15, 2014, 7:25 pm